But almost 500 kilometres north-east in Kalgoorlie, another Royalties for Regions (RfR) project was highlighted in the recently-released Langoulant report into the Barnett Government's fiscal management of the state.

The Ray Finlayson Sporting Complex was cited as an example of waste in public spending, where good governance practices had broken down.

"A $16-million project. Did we need it? Probably not," City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder chief executive John Walker told the inquiry.

"We had quality sporting fields already. But because there is a lot of money there, it had to be spent."

A damning assessment

Almost 10 years since the $1 billion-per-annum fund dedicated to regional spending cemented a government alliance between the Liberals and Nationals, views on the benefits of the policy remain polarised.

Premier Mark McGowan has rejected Mr Langoulant's recommendation to review the ongoing rationale for a hypothecated program directed toward the regions, although his Government will adopt other proposals to tighten scrutiny.

But it is Mr McGowan's ongoing dedication to spending up to a billion dollars in mining royalties specifically on the regions that continues to divide opinion.

"They quite rightly are going to be focused on their own electorates as far as trying to get funding for projects, which means logically the regions will miss out because of lack of representation in government," she said.

"This is one way to ensure politicians look up from their local navel and take part in decision making about funding being directed out into regional areas."

Ms Duncan said that was even more relevant following an electorate boundary change at the last election, with an extra MP from the metropolitan area now in the Legislative Assembly, and one less from the regions.

"While ever our population remains so dramatically out of balance, we really have to have some sort of mechanism to make sure regional areas get the attention they deserve," she said.

Former Shire of Derby-West Kimberley president Elsia Archer said RfR made a huge difference to community groups, sporting clubs and small country shires.

"A lot of the Kimberley shires don't have a big rate base, so we don't have a lot of money," Ms Archer said.

"So it was always handy."

Call for more 'sensible' spending

The main argument against the scheme was that if a project had a strong business case, it should not need a hypothecated fund to get it over the line.

John Daley, chief executive of the independent thinktank the Grattan Institute, found in a 2011 report that excessive RfR funding was being spent on regions like the Pilbara instead of fast-growing areas of greater need like Mandurah, Perth and Bunbury.

These days, Mr Daley said at the very least the scheme needed a substantial re-think.

"When you have a hypothecated fund like this, you essentially make it quite likely you will spend more than is sensible relative to the competing demands for that money from other places," he said.

"The whole point of regular prioritisation and spending decisions in everything from health, to schooling, to policing, to whatever else, is precisely to come up with a sensible and fair allocation of the money relative to need in each of the areas.

"People should not be penalised for living in Perth, which is in effect what Royalties for Regions does to them at the moment."